Super Stiff Batik

[Amy in Ames]

I had two quilts this weekend that were made with stiff batik fabrics. Obviously they didn't pre-wash the fabric. I had a bugger of a time quilting them. The thread would break. I'd loosen the tension and then I got loops on the back and top. It was just awful. So, my question to you all is this...have you had this problem and if so what did you do to fix it? I can't wait for the responses because I forsee this happening again. Thank you.

[DL Semmens]

Amy what size needle were you using? I think I remember from class, that if you have really dense fabric, you can go up a size in the needle and it might help. Of course the bigger the needle the less healing of fabric.

[Anniquilter]

Amy,

Try loosening the tension on the quilt not on the thread. You can have the quilt, batting and backing drooping quite a lot & it will still quilt OK. Dawn Cavanagh says the quilt should be loose enough anyway that you can hold a finger pointing up under the quilt sandwich and be able to grab the quilt from above.

Use a larger needle too - 4.5. It helps to make enough space going through the fabric not to abraid the thread and cause it to break while a stitch is being made. Don't worry about the bigger hole that needle will make. It will close up once the quilt is off the frame.

Good luck.

[quilterbee1]

I just did a fullsize with batik backing. I asked her to pre-wash with fab softener bc i'd heard horror stories about batiks. It quilted like butter with no issues. It's now a prerequisite if a customer has a batik back, that it be washed with fab softener. Amie;)

[sspingler]

I won't quilt it unless it's prewashed at least 4 times with white vinegar in the final rinse.

[chrisquilter]

I washed a customers very dark blue batik backing with retayne and color catchers by Shout. It took 4 washes until there was very little color change in the color catchers. I just love that product. I had a quilt of my own with some hand dyed fabric. When I washed it, the dye transferred to another part of the quilt. Of course it was going into the guild quilt show in a couple of days! I washed it with color catch and all was well again! Well mostly, only I know where there is still a little color.

chris

[Sandra Darlington]

I had a backing that wasn't batik, but it was a heavily overdyed stiff fabric (and probably cheap,too). The color (black) was coming out and getting into my nails while I was handling it, it was so bad. I called the customer and explained (leaving out the cheap part ) and she agreed to let me wash it before putting it on my frame. I explained that the dye would get all over my canvas leaders and would ultimately get all over her furniture, too. I was afraid that I would have skipped stitches to boot because of the way it felt.

I always prewash my batik backings. I find my favorite batiks are from Sew Batik. I love their wide batik backing fabric!

[Amy in Ames]

My customer picked up the quilt last night. When talking about how hard it was to quilt she asked me if the STARCH she sprayed on the fabric had anything to do with it. YES is sure did. Please don't do that again. I always wash batik backs from customers whether they ask me to or not. Saves me trouble in the long run.